Canonical adds new price points for its Ubuntu Edge smartphone as it approaches $4m in crowdfunding

Canonical has raised just shy of $4 million for its high-end Ubuntu Edge smartphone, but the firm is looking to accelerate its crowdfunding campaign by adding three extra funding tiers that will guarantee a pre-ordered device.

Consumers can now reserve a handset by pledging either $625, $675 or $725 on the firm’s Indiegogo campaign – the lowest amounts currently available given that Canonical has already blasted through the 5,000 spaces allocated for its early bird $600 price point.

It’s undoubtedly a ploy to try to maintain the initial momentum and hype surrounding the campaign; Canonical needs a further $28 million in 29 days to finance the project.

Without the new price points, Ubuntu fans would’ve needed to shell out at least $830 to grab a limited-run Ubuntu Edge. The new funding tiers have just 1,250 slots each, although Canonical plans to offer some further sub-$830 options in the coming days with considerably more spaces.

The Ubuntu Edge is a halo device, boasting a 4.5-inch display, 4GB of RAM and a whopping 128GB of storage. Alongside dual-LTE receivers, it will likely be the very best way to experience the Ubuntu OS on a mobile device.

The company plans to launch a number of other mid and high-end Ubuntu OS smartphones at launch, but the 40,000 Ubuntu Edge handsets will be somewhat of a collector’s item.

All of this rides on the presumption that Canonical will hit its original $32 million funding target. It’s a lofty goal and one that would break a whole host of crowdfunding records if successful.

Nick Summers is a technology journalist for The Next Web. He writes on all sorts of topics, although he has a passion for gadgets, apps and video games in particular. You can reach him on Twitter, circle him on Google+ and connect with him on LinkedIn.